Dry incontinent garment

ABSTRACT

A DRY INCONTINENT GARMENT CONSTRUCTED WITH A WAIST BAND ADAPTED TO PARTIALLY SURROUND THE BODY OF THE USER AND HAVING SUPPORT MEANS ATTACHED TO THE WAIST BAND ON ONE END. A DETACHABLE INCONTINENT MEMBER IS PROVIDED WHICH IS ADAPTED TO BE CONNECTED TO A WAIST BAND AND THE SUPPORT MEANS. FASTENING MEANS DETACHABLY CONNECT THE INCONTIENT MEMBER WITH THE WAIST BAND AND THE SUPPORT MEANS. THE FASTENING MEANS IS ADVANTAGEOUSLY ADAPTED TO BE SPACED AWAY FROM THE BODY OF THE USER. ADVANTAGEOUSLY, THE INCONTIENT MEMBER HAS AN OUTER COVER OF WATERPROOF MATERIAL AND AN INNER LAYER OF FLUID PERMEABLE, NON-ABSORBENT MATERIAL ADAPTED TO BE DISPOED ADJACENT THE BODY OF THE USER. A LAYER OF FLUID ABSORBENT MATERIAL IS DISPOSED BETWEEN THE OUTER COVER OF WATERPROOF MATERIAL AND THE INNER LAYER OF FLUID PERMEABLE NON-ABSORBENT MATERIAL.

NOV. 2, 1971 GARFlNKEL 3,616,798

DRY INCONT INENT GARMENT Filed Dec. 18, 1967 NON-ABSURBE/VT F LU/DPERMEABL E MATERIAL ABSORBENT i 51':

N 32 MA TIER/AL? y r11 &) I \\\\\-\x-\\\m:\\-\\ \xxwm Z 4 a 5 WATERPROOFg MATERIAL Ti 3.4,

IN VI'JNTUR.

United States Patent 3,616,798 DRY INCONTINENT GARMENT Julius Garfinkel,8851 18th Ave., Brooklyn, N.Y. 11214 Filed Dec. 18, 1967, Ser. No.691,606 Int. Cl. A61f 13/16 US. Cl. 128-295 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THEDISCLOSURE A dry incontinent garment constructed with a waist bandadapted to partially surround the body of the user and having supportmeans attached to the waist band on one end. A detachable incontinentmember is provided which is adapted to be connected to a waist band andthe support means. Fastening means detachably connect the incontinentmember with the waist band and the support means. The fastening means isadvantageously adapted to be spaced away from the body of the user.Advantageously, the incontinent member has an outer cover of waterproofmaterial and an inner layer of fluid permeable, non-absorbent materialadapted to be disposed adjacent the body of the user. A layer of fluidabsorbent material is disposed between the outer cover of waterproofmaterial and the inner layer of fluid permeable non-absorbent material.

Previous incontinent garments have had the disadvantage of becominguncomfortable to the user when the material next to the body of the userbecame damp due to the garment becoming soaked with fluid.

It is an object of this invention to furnish a dry incontinent garmentthat provides for absorption of fluids but allows the portion of theincontinent garment adjacent to the body of the user to remain dry.

Another object of this invention is to provide such an incontinentgarment that may be easily detached from a supporting waist band so thatit is readily washable.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent from the followingdetailed specification and the attached drawing wherein.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the dry incontinent garment of thisinvention in the form of a male support;

FIG. 2 is a front view of the incontinent garment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary, partially cross-sectional view of theincontinent garment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic across-section view of the material used informing the incontinent member of the incontinent garment of FIG. 1.

It has now been found that the foregoing objects and other advantagescan be readily attained in an incontinent garment having a waist bandadapted to partially surround the body of the user. Support means areattached to the waist band on one end and a detachable incontinentmember is adapted to be connected to the waist band and the supportmeans. Fastening means are provided to de-' tachably connect theincontinent member with the waist band and support means so that theincontinent member may be readily detached and washed and so additionalclean incontinent members may be attached to the support means and thewaist band. Desirably the fastening means is positioned to be spacedfrom the body of the user. Advantageously, the incontinent member has anouter cover of waterproof material, an inner layer of fluid permeablenon-absorbent material adapted to be disposed adjacent to the body ofthe user, and a fluid absorbent layer of mate-rial disposed between theouter cover of water proof material and the inner layer of fluidpermeable non-absorbent material. The highly desirable provision offluid permeable, non-absorbent material next 3,516,798 Patented Nov. 2,1971 to the body of the user allows the user to remain dry andcomfortable after fluid has been passed through and absorbed by thelayer of fluid absorbent material.

The waterproof outer cover may be made of plastic material and the innerlayer may be made of synthetic fiber material such as olefin fiber sheetmaterial. The fluid absorbent layer may be flannel material and mayconsist of one or more layers. The dry incontinent garment of thisinvention may be readily adapted for both male and female users althoughonly a male garment is shown in the drawing.

Referring now to the drawing there is illustrated an incontinent garmentdesignated by the reference numeral 10, which is adapted for a male userand has an elastic belt 12 configured to partially surround the waistportion of the user. The elastic belt 12 or waist band has two elasticleg straps 14 and 16, attached thereto by stitching, that extenddownwardly therefrom and are joined together at their opposite ends. Adry pouch, or support generally designated by the numeral 18, isattached to the elastic belt 12 on one side by a pair of detachablefasteners 20 and 20a and on its opposite side to the other end of thebelt by detachable fasteners 22 and 22a. Advantageously, the fasteners20, 20a, 22 and 22a are attached to the dry pouch 18 by pads 23 and 23aso that the metal portion of the fasteners does not touch the body ofthe user. Desirably the fasteners are in the form of snaps with the maleportion of the snaps attached to the pads 23 and 23a and with the femaleportion of the snaps attached to the belt 12. In addition, the dry pouch18 is connected to the leg straps 14 and 16 at the point Where they arejoined together by means of a detachable fastener 24. The detachablefastener may be of any conventional type such as metallic snap-onfasteners or other similar types. Thus, the dry pouch 18 is readilydetachable from the elastic belt 12 and the leg straps 14 and 1.6 forconvenient washing without destroying the elasticity of these members byfrequent washings.

Advantageously, the dry pouch 18 is made of various layers including anouter cover 26 of light weight waterproof material which may be in theform of a sheet configured to form a pouch for a male user. A pair ofsuperimposed interior pads 28 and 30 of absorbent material are providedwhich may be in the form of two layers of absorbent flannel adapted toconform to the pouch shape of the outer cover 26. A highly desirableinner layer of material 32, also adapted to conform to the shape of theouter cover '26, is provided for positioning next to the body of theuser. The layers of material are held together by stitching 34 along thebase of the pouch 18 and by stitching 36 along the upper edge of thepouch. The fasteners also function to hold the layers of materialtogether.

The inner layer of material 3.2 is advantageously made of anon-absorbent fluid permeable material which allows fluid to passtherethrough from the body of the user to be absorbed by the inner pads28 and 30. This inner layer of material may be made of olefin fibersheet material which allows fluid to pass therethrough but does notabsorb the fluid thereby keeping the body of the user dry in aneffective and convenient manner. The olefin fiber sheet material may bechemically treated in a conventional manner to provide a soft surfacefor the comfort of the user.

Accordingly, this invention provides for a detachable dry incontinentgarment which may be easily detached from the supporting elastic beltand leg straps so that it may be readily washed without destroying theelasticity of these members. In addition, this invention advantageouslyprovides for an incontinent garment that is comfortable for the user towear as the layer of material next to the body of the user remains dryafter fluid has passed therethrough. The provision of an inner layerdisposed next to the body of the user that is non-absorbent but allowsmoisture to pass therethrough for absorption by the interior absorbentpa'ds furnishes a highly desirable dry incontinent garment incombination with the waterproof outer cover which prevents fluid fromreaching the clothes of the user.

It will be understood that the foregoing description with the details ofexemplary structure is not to be constructed in any way to limit theinvention, but that modification maybe made thereto without departingfrom the scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims.

Having thus described my invention I claim:

1. A dry incontinent support garment for a male user comprising anelastic waist band of a length adapted to only partially surround thebody of the user and having ends, a pair of elastic straps each attachedat one end to said waist band, a detachable incontinent pouch adapted tobe connected to said waist band between said ends to said straps,fastening means detachably connecting said incontinent pouch with saidwaist band and said straps, said fastening means being positioned to bespaced from the body of the user, said incontinent pouch having an outercover of plastic Waterproof material, an inner layer of fluid permeable,non-absorbent olefin fiber sheet material adapted to be disposedadjacent the body of the user, and a fluid absorbent layer of materialdisposed between said outer cover of Waterproof material and said innerlayer of fluid permeable, non-absorbent material, said fluid absorbentlayer consisting of a plurality of layers of flannel material, andwherein said incontinent pouch is held together by said fastening means,and stitching along the lower portion of said pouch.

2,. A dry incontinent support garment in the form of a male pouch havingan outer cover of plastic Waterproof material, an inner layer of fluidpermeable, non-absorbent synthetic fiber sheet material adapted to bedisposed adjacent the body of the user, and a fluid absorbent layer ofmaterial disposed between said outer cover of waterproof material andsaid inner layer of fluid permeable, non-absorbent material anddetachable support means having fasteners adapted to be spaced away fromthe body of the user wherein said fluid permeable, nonabsorbent innerlayer is olefin fiber sheet material and wherein said fluid absorbentlayer is of flannel material consisting of a plurality of layers of saidflannel material and wherein said incontinent pouch is held together bysaid fasteners and stitching along the lower portion of said pouch.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,452,753 7/1969 Sanford 128--2871,419,044 6/ 1922 Gunderson 128286 1,772,019 8/1930 Speight 128-289 X2,800,906 7/1957 Hinton 128-286 2,897,108 7/1959 Harwood 128296 X3,237,625 3/1966 Johnson 128-428 8 3,336,923 8/1967 Devaud 128-290 XOTHER REFERENCES Merck Index, seventh edition, p. 2 22. The ModernTextile Dictionary, p. 528.

RICHARD C. PINKHAM, Primary Examiner P. E. SHAPIRO, Assistant ExaminerUS. 01. X.R. 128- 289

